Bustin' Out

"What car?" Eddie finally asked.

"I told you not to say anything!" Laurie hissed, dragging him toward the police car.

Eddie saw where she was headed and his eyes nearly popped out of his head, but he said nothing.

Several of the lingering spectators saw as Laurie jumped into the cruiser and unlocked the passenger door for Eddie, but most of them thought it was part of the parade and only laughed and cheered. A few thought otherwise and called out for them to stop, but it was too late for anyone to do anything about it. Laurie swing the wheel around and ran the car up on the sidewalk, sending half a dozen pedestrians leaping to safety, and roared away up the street. She was aware of the cop running after them with his fist raised, but of course he was powerless to do anything but radio for help.

That he undoubtedly did, and Laurie saw and heard the other sirens several blocks behind her as she gunned the stolen car toward the nearest interstate ramp.

"We'll never make it!" Eddie said.

"Not with that attitude we won't," Laurie said.

"But where are we going?!"

"Canada."

"That's a day's drive at least!"

"It'll be worth it, don't you think?" Laurie asked.

Eddie looked over at the scantily clad woman who had praised his own seminude body back in the stairwell, and nodded.

"Panic in the downtown area today, as an illegally dressed woman caused a disturbance at her office," intoned the announcer. "It seems the woman, identified only as Laurie at this point, encouraged several of her female colleagues to follow her lead, causing a riot in the office. Police arrived on the scene amidst already-circulating rumors of what had happened, and numerous other women throughout the building followed her lead, causing further disturbance and distracting the police. Laurie and a male accomplice escaped into the Halloween parade and then stole a police cruiser; they have yet to be apprehended. Meanwhile, Laurie's act of disobedience seems to have tipped off a domino effect throughout the city, where at last count nearly a hundred women had been apprehended for appearing unbound in public. On that note, we take you to our correspondent on remote, Roger Jenkins, in the central business district. Roger, how's the real life Halloween parade?"

"Absolute Pandemonium, Peter," Jenkins reported, two blocks from where Laurie and Eddie had escaped. "The parade has long since come and gone, but as you can see behind me, women are tearing off their bindings left and right now, others voicing their support for it without actually joining them, and even some men are shouting out their approval. We're looking at near riot conditions, and the police are powerless to contain it all at once. But we did get a word here with one of the rebels, who has asked that her face not appear on screen. She's given her name as Janet. Janet, what has inspired you to join in the rebellion?"

"It was well past time someone asked why!" declared the woman, who was visible only from the neck down. "Two generations of women have been forced to pretend they're not women because of some stilly archaic law, and all anyone ever has to say as to why is 'the fount ties knots that the rock cannot loosen.' Finally someone finally said enough and, by the way, that saying makes no sense, which we all knew all along it doesn't, God bless her!"

"Aren't you worried about going to jail?" Jenkins asked.

"One, it'll be worth it if we're free in the end, and two, they can't throw every woman in America in jail!" Janet replied. "To anyone who's listening out there, I implore you, join us! You've got nothing to lose but your misery!"

"That little bitch," Laurie's mother said through her gritted teeth in front of the television at home. "How could she?" Turning to her husband for moral support, she demanded, "Don't you agree, George?"

George took a deep breath. "Quite frankly, no," he said. "I'm actually rather proud. Wish I knew where she was, though."

"Who cares where she is?!" snapped her mother. "You think I'd let her back in my house?"

"No, I don't," George said. "Which explains why she hasn't come back here." He allowed his manly façade to slip for a moment as tears came to his eyes; he rather doubted he would see his daughter again. "I only hope she and that boy escape to safety somewhere."

"You would."

The anonymous "Janet"'s entreaty was already well on its way to fruition as Laurie gunned the stolen police car up every northern route she could find. By nightfall, the radio was reporting rebellions in cities nationwide. It was also reporting that Laurie and Eddie were public enemy number one, and that the police were roughly aware of their location. "The two fugitives are unarmed but desperate, and must be considered extremely dangerous," intoned the announcer on the only station Eddie could find on a particularly empty stretch of country highway, still several hours south of the border.

"Extremely dangerous," Eddie repeated. "Well, I certainly feel that way, don't you?"

"Just extremely tired," Laurie replied, not daring to take her eyes off the road. "We've got to stop somewhere. The battery'll run down, if nothing else, and they'll be looking for a cop car at the border anyway."

"I wonder how they didn't catch us already?" Eddie said. "That's just short of a miracle!"

"I'm betting someone out there is helping us," Laurie said. "Or many someones."

She was proven right just a few miles up the road. A flash appeared in the road, looking like a deer at first. As they drew closer, they realized it was a person. A woman. A topless woman, shivering in the night but smiling at the car and holding up her hands in welcome.

"It's a trap," Eddie said. "It must be."

"If it is, we'll just peel away," Laurie said. She slowed down the car and lowered the window.

"Laurie and Eddie, right?!" asked the woman, who leaned in to talk to them. "It's a pleasure! My name's Becky and my sisters and I want to help you. We have a farm up the road, you can stay there for the night and then take one of our old jalopies up to Canada."

"How do we know you're not a cop?" Eddie asked.

"You don't, I guess," Becky replied. "But do you think you're going to get over the border in a stolen cop car?"

"We were just discussing that," Laurie admitted. "Listen, we --"

A siren split the silence in the distance, and Becky stepped back and tore open the backseat door. "Now you've got no choice but to trust me!" she said. "Take that dirt road on the left!"

Laurie, reasoning that Becky was right, did as she told. They were out of sight before the police car they had heard could see them, and in a matter of minutes they found themselves parked outside what Becky identified as her family's farmhouse. "Mom and Dad finally took a vacation after all these years, thank God!" Becky said. "They're in Hawaii. It's just my sisters and me. Sandy here is the daredevil, she'll get rid of this car for you."

"Welcome," said the sister introduced as Sandy, shaking both their hands. "That's the baby over there, Mary. One of the local deputies has a crush on her, so she'll sweet talk him out of coming in the house if they come by. In the meantime, I'll get rid of the car." Eddie nodded hello to them both. Unlike Becky, Mary and Sandy were both fully clothed; but none of the three was bound.

"How are you going to get rid of it?" Laurie asked.

"Better if you don't know," Becky said.

"Oh, quiet, you!" Sandy said. "There's a canyon near our property where locals have been trashing their cars for decades. For insurance. If the cops hear the explosion -- and they won't -- they'll just figure it's someone else trying to cheat the insurance companies."

Before Laurie or Eddie's heads had stopped spinning, they were ensconced safely upstairs in what appeared to be the girls' parents' bedroom. Becky, who by then had put her shirt back on, presented them with sandwiches and hot chocolate, and at long last Laurie had a chance to ask what they were both wondering. "Why did you help us?"

"Why wouldn't we?" Mary exclaimed. "It is so very long past time someone did what you've done! That's why it's spread so quickly. All the entire country needed was one woman to say 'enough'. And it was you! When we heard on the news that you were believed to be heading this way, we thought, well, they've got to stop somewhere and change cars at least if they want any chance at getting away."

"And we've got half a dozen junkers out back, but they do run," Becky went on. "So we took turns going out to the main road and simply taking our top off when a car came by. We figured you'd get the symbolism."

"We certainly did," Eddie said. "But what would you do if the car wasn't us?"

"That did happen several times," Mary said. "Then we just ran off into the woods and waited for the next car. A couple of times the driver actually stopped and came around looking, but we've lived here all our lives and we know every tree. They never even came close to finding us.

"It's awfully nice of you to help us," Laurie said. "But I guess you know we can't pay you, at least not much. We only have what we had in our pockets when we split from the office this morning."

"And I guess you know we don't want a nickel from you!" Becky said. "Listen, if you look online or listen to the radio, it's all over the country now. Women everywhere are following your lead. They'll never get us all back in the binding now! If we could help in any way, hell, Laurie, we'd pay for the honor!"

"I'm...touched." Laurie was feeling near tears, but she was pleased to realize they were tears of pride. In any event, they didn't quite come.

Mary stood up. "Look, one of us ought to stand guard downstairs. Sandy will be back soon, and we'll make it look as normal as we can in case Danny comes by."

"Danny?" Eddie asked.

"The cop who has a crush on her," Becky said, also standing up. "If they're looking for you, he's the one who'll come by. And she's right, we should all be downstairs. I'm sure the two of you would like some privacy anyway for the night. Don't worry, we'll wash the sheets after you leave." Becky grinned at the taboo joke, but noted that neither Laurie nor Eddie objected to it.

As soon as the sisters had taken their leave, Laurie looked at Eddie and dissolved into nervous laughter. Eddie got up from the floor and sat on the bed. "You know, we don't have to do anything," he said. "I could even sleep on the floor if you want me to."

"For heaven's sake, Eddie!" Laurie stood up as well and took both his hands in hers, drawing him back to his feet. "After the day we've had, and knowing what might well happen tomorrow, do you think I'd want to miss out on making love to you?!"

"What?!" Eddie made no effort to hide his surprise.

"Look, Eddie," Laurie said. "I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. Neither of us knows. We could get through and live happily ever after in Canada, or we could get caught and thrown in jail or worse. I'm an optimist at heart -- that's why I was able to throw off my binding -- so I have to believe sooner or later we'll be set free if we're caught. But it could be a while. Years, even! If we are locked away for years, I want one memory of a beautiful night together to tide us both over. Wouldn't you like that?" She broke contact to take off the t-shirt Becky had given her, and placing his hands on her breasts, she added, "And really, now that these are finally free, we both ought to enjoy them!"

"I certainly am enjoying them right now," Eddie admitted, caressing Laurie's forbidden fruit reverently. "Oh, who am I kidding, I'm dying to make love to you!" He followed her lead in taking off the blazer and tie. "If I weren't dressed like this, I'd have thought it was days we were on the run, not hours!"

"Already feels like weeks since I was bound," Laurie agreed, holding her breasts at attention as she awaited his hands' return. "I can't believe I lived with that misery for so long."

"You never will again," Eddie said, as he stood up and unbuttoned his pants. Once he had them off, he took her in a nude embrace and pushed her pants down with one hand and resumed playing with her breasts with the other. "I promise."

"You can't promise that," Laurie reminded him.

"I can promise I'll do everything I can to make it happen!"

"As will I!" Laurie vowed, and she kissed him as she kicked her pants and panties off. They fell together on the bed.

Eddie, feeling a bit self-conscious, rubbed Laurie's bruise gently where Josh had punched her. "It broke my heart watching this happen," he said.

"Never mind that!" Laurie said, pulling his hand away. "Eddie, here I am naked for you! Why worry about what's done with when you have all my body to explore, and you're knowing I'm dying to have you do it? Besides, it's a badge of honor for both of us, isn't it?"

"Good point," Eddie admitted as he lay back on the pillows and admired Laurie's body. "You are beautiful," he murmured. "What a horrible shame they'd try to outlaw this."

"Thank you, and I couldn't agree more! But are you really only going to look at me?"

"Well, Laurie...I don't know just what to do! You know what it's like with the morality laws. All we ever hear is that you shouldn't do it until you're married. Well, I've never been married, so I haven't got a clue."

"Neither do I," Laurie admitted. "But isn't that part of the fun of it all? That's what I've always heard in the whispered conversations in the ladies' room and so on." On that note she wrapped one hand around his erection and began stroking gently. "That's it," she said as Eddie began gasping and groaning in pleasure. "Admire my illegal woman's body to your heart's content, and understand it's going to ravage you! Happy Halloween, dear!"

Eddie laughed through his intense sighs, and Laurie joined him. At last Eddie overcame his shyness well enough to run his fingers through Laurie's bush. She spread her legs for him, and soon he was stroking her lips with an awkward but eager touch. He leaned in and kissed each of her breasts gently in turn, earning her encouragement along the way. "Yesssss, Eddie! Lovely!"

"How did you hide these away?" Eddie marvelled at their size.

"It wasn't easy. But this is! Kiss them some more!" And Eddie did.

It took some time before the two virgins were brave enough for the next step, but Laurie had little trouble guiding Eddie inside once she'd coaxed him into climbing on top of her. "Lovely," she said as he pushed into her. "Not so hard, is it?"

"I'm pretty sure it's as hard as it gets," Eddie quipped. They laughed together, and then he set about making love to her. Slow and deliberate, inexperienced but patient with one another, they went at it for the next several minutes with the dim light betraying nothing of the enemy outside, and the comforting din of Mary and Becky washing dishes and puttering about downstairs. Laurie was self-conscious about the noises she felt like making at first, but as she recalled Becky's adoration for her and reasoned that they couldn't be heard very well downstairs anyway, she let go of her inhibitions and thrilled Eddie with a stream of heated consciousness as he brought her to a hard-won orgasm. "Beautiful," he said, pausing to admire the look of intense joy on her face as the moment passed.

"Now you," she said. "Go as fast as you like. I want to see you come. Let's have this to remember just in case!" And in a few more hard pushes, she had her wish.

Sandy banged in the back door. "No one saw me," she announced to her sisters at the kitchen table.

"How can you be sure?" Becky asked.

"I'm here and not down at the police station, that's how!" Sandy protested. "I mean, maybe the cops heard the explosion, but they'd have gotten there too late."

"But then they're going to come here if they did hear it," Mary said.

"They won't find anything here, will they?" Sandy insisted. "Besides, it's Halloween night. It could just be some pranksters. That's what it usually is at the canyon, really."

"Shhhh!" Becky pointed in turn at both of her sisters. "They could be right outside for all we know!" she reminded them in a harsh whisper. As if on cue, the doorbell rang, and Becky gave them both an angry look.

"Coming!" Mary knew her cue. She went out into the hallway, where the front door could be seen. Sure enough, it was just as they had feared. "Oh, hi, Deputy Danny!" she said in her best flirtatious voice. "Want some leftover Halloween candy? You know we get so few trick or treaters here!"

"No thanks, Mary," said the young police officer. "May I come in, though?"

"Well, of course," Mary said, opening the screen door. "But whatever for?"

"Are your parents and sisters here?"

"We're here, Mom and Dad aren't," said Becky, who was now standing in the kitchen door. "How can we help you, Dan?"

"Well, ladies, this is a big awkward, but I'm sure you've heard the news about what happened all over the place today. Women everywhere are rebelling, and heck, it looks like the both of you are, too," he chuckled.

"We're in our home, we don't have to be bound here," Mary reminded him.

"True, you don't," Danny admitted. "It is recommended but not required. In any event, the woman who started the whole thing, and her male accomplice, their car was sighted not far from here, and I'm afraid there were reports of a young woman who looks a lot like one of you three standing naked from the waist up out in the road. I was sure it was just some silly Halloween prank, but I do need to ask you if it was."

"Danny, you know I would never go outside unbound, never mind topless!" Mary said, forcing a laugh. "Don't be silly!"

"I believe you," Danny said. "But listen, just to be completely safe, I ought to search your house. For the fugitives."

"Is that really necessary?" Becky asked. "You didn't see a cop car in our yard except for yours, did you?"

"How did you know it was a cop car they were driving?" Danny asked.

"It was all over the news, that's how!" Sandy piped up, having now joined her sister in the kitchen doorway. "Danny, I know you've got a job to do, but this is ridiculous. You've known us all our lives, and you haven't got any reason to think anyone is hiding here. If you did, you'd have said what your reasons were by now."

"I told you we'd heard reports!" Danny said. "And how do I know you heard on the news that it was a police car?"

"Where else would we hear it?" Becky demanded.

"That doesn't matter," Danny said. "Ladies, I'm sorry, but I must insist." He pulled his radio out of its holster. "I'm calling for backup, and we're going to search this house."

"Danny, would you put that radio away?!" Becky called out, praying she was loud enough to be understood upstairs. "You're being absurd!"

"Orders are orders," Danny said. "These two caused a nationwide panic, rioting everywhere, disrespect for the law, and all I want to do is mark your house off our list of where they might be."

Becky had no way of knowing, but her desperate ploy had worked. Upstairs, Laurie and Eddie were snuggling under the covers in their afterglow when they heard her. Laurie jumped up and gathered up her blouse and slacks from the floor. "We'd better get out of here," she said. "At least step outside until they've searched the house, if that's what they're going to do."

"But where will we go?" Eddie wondered out loud, though he did follow Laurie's lead in getting his clothes back on. No need to bother with the tie, anyway. "They didn't give us any car keys yet."

"I'm sure they'll let us back in once the cops have been through here." Laurie pulled on her shoes and turned to open the window.

The sisters all watched helplessly as Danny reported his suspicions on the radio. Once he had switched it off, Mary stepped forward for a last-ditch effort. "Danny," she said, "What's the harm in what this Laurie has done? Even if she were here, and I'm not saying she is."